The Department of PMIR was started with a view to imparting specialized education and training to young men and women aspiring after jobs in industrial establishments, Government labour department and social welfare agencies. The immediate impetus for establishment of the department came from the Factories Act, 1948 which provides for the employing of five hundred and more workers. The Department actually owes its origin to the foresight of Sir C.P.N. Sinha, the then Vice Chancellor, Patna University, to the organizational ability of Professor Gorakh Nath Sinha, the famous economist and the then Director of Public Instructions, Bihar and to the encouragement given by Shree Jagjivan Ram, the then Minister of Labour, Government of India. It started working from the month of December 1948 with a batch of thirty-two students under the headship of Dr G.P. Sinha M.A. (Pat) Ph.D. (Cornell) and a galaxy of exceptionally brilliant and competent part-time teachers who brought their knowledge in the various subjects of the study to bear upon the training of the students. The teachers included Dr V.K.N. Menon, the Head, Department of Political Science, Patna University, Dr B.R. Mishra M.A., LLB, Ph.D., D.Sc. (London), the then Head of the Department of Economics, Patna University, Late Prof. H.P. Maiti, the then Director of the Institute of Psychological Research and Services, Patna University, Late Dr Lakshmi Narayan, the then Head of the Department of Statistics, Patna University, Mrs Ramola Nandi the then Principal Magadh Mahila College, Patna and former D.P.I Bihar and Prof. B. Ganguli of the Department of Economics, Patna University. A few years after Professor Amridhari Singh M.A. (Pat) M.S. Sc (N.Y.) and M.A. (Illinois) joined the department and took over its headship. Among other teachers who got associated subsequently were Late Prof. Dibakar Jha, H.O.D. of Economics, Patna University, Dr Durga Nand Sinha, the former Professor and Head of the Department of Psychologhy, Allahabad University, Late Dr M.Z. Abdeen, Principal, Patna College, Dr D.N. Lal, the former Director, Statistics and Evaluation, Government of Bihar, Dr Narmadeshwar Prasad, the then Professor and Head, Department of Sociology, Patna University and Prof. John. W. Me Connell a visiting Professor from the Cornell University (U.S.A.) who subsequently became the President of the University of New Hempshire of the U.S.A. With the expansion of the Department posts of lecturers were created from time to time and appointments of regular teachers were made mostly from the alumni of the department. The department runs two self-financed courses namely Masters in Rural Studies (Rural Management and Development) and Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Safety Management. Besides a Research Chair is also established in the department by the University Grants Commission namely “Babu Jagjivan Ram Chair” with Dr Sanjay Paswan as its Director Incharge. The Department regularly organises special lectures and workshops for its students in particular and academicians in general. The Department has organised National and International Seminars including the Seminars organised in collaboration with Babu Jagjiwan Ram Chair. The department also facilitates the absorption of students in NGO’s and other organizations. The Alumni of the Department have served as Director Personnel in almost all leading public and private sector and industrial organisations. The alumni of the Department are serving at highest levels of Personnel and Human Resource Departments of various organizations till date. The faculty members have made significant contributions in the field of academics and have earned a name for themselves. They have not only written Internationally and Nationally acclaimed books but have also published Research papers in the International and National journals. In the year 2009 one International Seminar was organized in the Department in collaboration with IHD and ICSSR on ‘Poverty and Women’s Empowerment’ and one National Seminar on ‘Information Technology and Women Empowerment’ in collaboration with the UGC was also organized in the same year by Dr Sunita Roy. From time to time many national and state level seminars are being organized by the department. The courses of the department are professional in nature and, therefore, the department is concerned about placement of its students along with providing them quality teaching. The placement in the department is very high especially in the courses of Industrial Safety Management and Rural Studies. So the student of Personnel Management and Industrial Relations do not lag far behind.

First Head: Dr G. P. Sinha.

Present Head: Dr Govind Kumar